Huh. Typing out those words was a bit easier than I thought it would be, especially for such an ardent fanman like myself.
One more time, just to be sure: I’m not going to buy a 3DS.
Here’s why:
Half-baked
The 3DS doesn’t seem finished. Some of the promised pre-installed software isn’t going to be available until May or later. I feel as though Nintendo knows it has this hyper-connected portable that can be wirelessly updated from the cloud at any time, and they’re getting lazy–just like all the other developers and publishers (Bethesda, EA, etc) that have made shipping a buggy product without apology simply because they can update later a common practice in the industry.
Draconian updates and “un-updates”
What Nintendo openly and unabashedly says it will do with content on your 3DS is appaling and unacceptable. That 3D OK Go! music video presently installing itself on reviewer 3DS units? It will be deleted, without notice, at a future date.
“Please note that the “White Knuckles” music video is provided for a limited time and may be deleted from your system with subsequent updates.” read Brian Crecente’s fine print over at Kotaku.
“Eff you, Nintendo,” says me. Nintendo has never been what we could call “online savvy” with its portables or consoles, and that appears to have manifested itself in their latest portable as something truly awful. What a stupid, stupid way to treat your customers.
Soft launch (software)
How ironic, given all the big names and buzz surrounding the 3DS when it was revealed, that the killer app ends up being a series of freely included AG cards. They’re admittedly awesome, and shows potential, but I’m through buying expensive electronics based on potential. I’ll wait. Enough said.
Battery
Abysmal. Every review confirms it. Three to 5 hours’ worth (if that) before it’s back into the cradle for more juice. When it’s charging it takes its sweet ass time getting back to 100%. What fun it will be to game while tethered to the wall by the AC adapter.
Unacceptable and again, half-baked. This will be addressed in the 3DS Lite, I’m sure. Will people wait that long?
Stale form factor
Color me a design snob all you want, but the 3DS is stale. The colors are poor. If white is played out, try silver or platinum or some other similar, safe color. The traditional DS Lite and DSi clamshell design has proven to be unreliable and prone to looseness or breakage. It was not addressed with the 3dS, as reviewers are or anticipate running into the same exact problems.
Again, I’m being a huge snob here, but at least Sony’s ho-hum portables get a somewhat sexy redesign when a massive update like the NGP comes out. The 3DS is stuck in the 2000’s.
3D
3D is in the title, and yet Nintendo is distancing itself from 3D even before the thing officially launches in the U.S.
“We’re moving away from any stance that says if you don’t use the 3-D functionality you can’t play this game,” a Nintendo dev told GameLife.
The point of this system is to introduce 3d, but in the face of a few reviewers’ criticism about eye strain or focus point problems Nintendo is backing off the whole 3D thing even before it launches. I’m pretty liberal, but Nintendo is like the Democrats. At the first sign of opposition they fold and concede ground. This move does not signal confidence.
I’m older
This isn’t Nintendo’s fault. People age. I’m nearly 30. I have a few hours each day to unwind when I’m not working or exercising or eating or sleeping. Unfortunately for Nintendo, there is nothing in the 3DS (or the Wii, besides Netflix at the moment) that has me itching to part with $250 +$40 for a portable and one game. I still enjoy games. I haven’t given up on them in my old age, so don’t read it like that, please’it’s simply that there is no killer app worthy of my hard-earned cash at the moment. That said, the AR cards are hella-neat.
Ad nauseum in concludium
Something with this many flaws and an apparent lack of vision or strategy is not worth my $250 (plus games). If I do get this portable, it will probably be version 2. Maybe. Nintendo’s lost me with this thing so far. I will not be buying the 3DS.
See also: I’m buying the Nintendo 3DS
business firm
A good argument, but not stopping me from buying one.
The one issue I have, though, is that everyone thinks that the weak launch list is such an awful thing. I'll get the system, get one or two of the launch titles, and then ENJOY them while I wait for Zelda/Mario, etc. I see no sense in getting excited about a huge launch list…it takes time to play and enjoy any video game. Spreading out the really good ones over a longer period of time seems much more reasonable.
So this guy is too old to play games… Why is he even a writer on this site then?
(Haven't read any of the comments above: short on time. So if I repeat someone, I'm sorry in advance.)
As a long time Nintendo fan and equally as a man of 'age' (mid-twenties, but still…), I'm not sure about this 3DS. It's.. not what I expected.
Even the fact that I only own the first 'Phat' DS, and have never owned a newer DS, I'm not convinced. I feel like I'm going to be screwed over again by Nintendo when they release a revamped, better 3DS.
That, and the not-that-slick design combined with the dreadful battery-live (hooray 10-hour Phat DS battery life!), makes me want to wait until the better games arrive together with a revamped console.
john, your comments are off-topic. If you have questions related to Infendo that we can answer, you can use the Email Us link. But it looks like you are just doing research for school… we're not going to do your project for you. 😛 Google/Wikipedia – look into it.
haters gonna hate. people like you shouldn't be posting on a supposed Nintendo "fan blog"
Intelligent passion .. our tagline .. directly applies to an article like this. Jack researched something and made an intelligent decision, but still retains his passion. He didn't blindly follow Nintendo and buy everything they put in front of him (which I think he has also been accused of doing on this same site). In fact, I don't think he is badmouthing the 3DS at all and seems like he's a little bummed out that it didn't meet his expectations.
LOL This article saying the clamshell design makes devices MORE prone to breakage?
Whelp, Jack's crossed into professional troll territory. Never thought I'd see the day he'd ape the mainstream games media he reviles to much, but I guess it's too much to ask for intellectual honesty these days.
@Jeff: That's a funny comment!
Truth is, I was going by trusted reviews from sources that have had their hands on the device for a significant period of time. I've held it in my own hands and played it. All the ailments of the clamshell design have not been addressed in any significant way with the 3DS. Fact. That's all I state here, but you seem to have, I dunno, some kind of weird anti-Jeff's opinion agenda against people who don't agree with you? Blind lashing out. Have you been playing with the 3D cranked to 100% for too long? I dunno. Guess I'm confused.
I think “We're moving away from any stance that says if you don't use the 3-D functionality you can't play this game,†just means that they're not going to make players force themselves to play it on 3D all the time. I mean I would be uncomfortable if I'm obligated to play in 3D all the time. I don't think they're not embracing 3D.
Artefacto seems to have voiced my thoughts on this article quite well.
I am buying the 3DS, but just not yet. It has a few flaws, but those are easy to overlook in the face of fantastic games, which is what I buy a device for. And there are plenty of good games a-coming.
My birthday's on April 19th and the past few years I haven't gotten any notable gifts, so Mom was gonna get me a 3DS then; I may tell her to wait up instead, but not for any of the reasons listed in this article. I think the 3DS is a sexy little system, the extra power alone is enough for me to drop the money for it… normally. For $20 you can get a Nyko Power Pak + battery that doubles the life of the 3DS, for $30 you can get the battery AND a charging cradle to go with it. It sucks that you have to buy it for double the battery life, but the fact that you can easily trade out the battery in the system for another is refreshing. I'm actually excited about the prospect of using a system before it's updated to unlock all of the tech, no one will ever be able to experience that ever again after a few months. That said, the controls for the 3DS aren't anywhere near as good as I had been hoping for since I got the original DS.
It's nice to see that the system has a slide pad, but why is it on the left side and not the right? Why aren't there two? This is an issue I've had with the Playstation Portable since it released back in 2005, and I expected any systems to release after it to have two analog sticks. I'm disappointed in Nintendo for this. Also, why put all the focus on the top screen and have only the bottom screen as a touch screen? I'd rather not pay attention to two screens at once, especially if 3D is blasting on the top one and refocusing on the bottom one strains my already damaged eyes. And why the hell is the stylus to the left of the game cards? It was perfect with the original DS model, and subsequent revisions to have the stylus on the right side of the system are totally better than having it to the left of the freaking game card. Reaching back an extra inch can't be comfortable, especially during thousands of hours of gaming spread over half a decade. The motion controls, the motion controls mess with the 3D effect and they cancel each other out. If a game has motion controls it can't have 3D. That's just how it works.
The NGP has little to no flaws so far from what I've seen, except the lack of any games that I'm interested in(at all). I've been a fan of the big N since I was a baby, and I'd rather not ignore Nintendo's current biggest handheld system for a Sony system, but the system doesn't really have any big design eff-ups like the 3DS. The analog sticks look very comfortable, the motion sensing looks great, the touch screen is responsive and the touch pad on the back of the system is really badass. I'm just iffy on the 3G setup; I won't buy the 3G model for an extra $100 if it requires a monthly fee and I won't buy the non-3G model because I'll feel like I'm missing out on something potentially awesome. I wish things were more clear for me right now, the suspense is killing me.
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